"Project Sidekick” aims to put the HoloLens augmented reality goggles on board the space program's Weightless Wonder C9 jet. The face gear, combined with the Microsoft's Skype chat tool, would act as a sort of two-way communicator allowing crews collaborate and run tests, make repairs and ensure other system integrity. If everything works the way it should, the device could wind up landing at its ultimate destination, on board the space station.

Apart from being an incredibly cool scenario for its augmented reality face gear, the move also highlights Microsoft's deep interest in supporting companies and other organizations. That should surprise no one, considering the so-called enterprise is one of the few, but crucial areas of success for the company and its Windows platform (though that hold may be more tenuous than it seems).

If the Windows maker wants to amp up the sex appeal for what can be a rather drab, operational affair—such as remote management or training—then mission accomplished with this NASA project.

Launching Microsoft’s Wearable

And we thought Microsoft HoloLens' Minecraft demo was impressive...

Sidekick hinges on two primary functions, according to NASA’s website:

The first is “Remote Expert Mode,” which uses Skype, part of Microsoft, to allow a ground operator to see what a crew member sees, provide real-time guidance, and draw annotations into the crew member’s environment to coach him or her through a task…

The second mode is “Procedure Mode,” which augments standalone procedures with animated holographic illustrations displayed on top of the objects with which the crew is interacting.

The latter could reduce the amount of advance training crews have to undergo, bringing down costs, while ensuring they have critical data in the moments they need it. The other benefit: If they save the data locally and take it into space, it would give astronauts additional expertise on demand, even on missions "deep into our solar system, where communication delays complicate difficult operations.”

On July 21, a team of astronauts and engineers will embark for the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 20 expedition, and Sidekick will be along for the ride. For two weeks, the group will live in the Aquarius undersea research station, which acts as a simulated space exploration environment.

If It’s Good Enough For NASA, It’s Great For Your IT Department

According to NASA, Sidekick is just one facet of a larger effort by the two partners "to explore applications of holographic computing in space exploration.” A few months ago, Microsoft and NASA revealed they were working on new software called OnSight, which would allow HoloLens-equipped scientists work virtually on Mars.

Windows Holographic HoloLens Mars demo

Sidekick may be pretty stunning, as far as passion projects go, but it also sheds some light on how Microsoft sees “holographic computing” in general, and its HoloLens technology specifically, fitting into larger, systemic operations. Their impact, on efforts like training scenarios and remote communications, have big implications for a wide range of industries.

Of course, Microsoft is not the only company orienting its wearable face device at enterprise applications. Others, including Epson and Vuzix, have been courting organizations, with glasses that could offer similar features for professionals in industries as diverse as medical, manufacturing and automotive.

It’s also worth noting that the original Google Glass, as flawed as it was, garnered quite a bit of attention from companies eager to make use of the connected eyewear. The upcoming reboot of Google’s device will likely generate the same level of interest.

But could it possibly be as cool as connecting humanity’s star-ward gaze in the vast reaches of space? For once, it seems like Microsoft may have figuratively and literally "out-moonshot” Google.

Microsoft apparently has been busy lately, trying to tell the world’s stories and laying out a new company mission statement, but it still enough time to drop this not-so-subtle hint: If HoloLens is good enough for NASA, then it’s probably good enough for your earthbound IT department.

Drones are transitioning from military use to big business. So says Aaron Levie, CEO of cloud storage system Box, Wednesday in San Francisco.

Levie was joined by Skycatch’s Christian Sanz and NASA’s Parimal Kopardekar for a TechCrunch Disrupt panel aptly titled “Game of Drones." The trio hit the Disrupt stage followed by a tiny drone with a video camera that panned over the crowd, broadcasting its footage on the hall’s huge screens.

The big questions for the drone panel was accessibility of the flying robots, uses, and safety.

Given the video feed taken from the panel’s small, mosquito-like drone, many are concerned about what a drone-filled sky means for civilian privacy, not to mention safety.

Drones randomly dropping on people’s heads is a possibility that can be mechanically addressed. But the main conundrum is that domestic drone safety standards are fuzzy at best. Levie says that with no precedent to work with, we must look to the government to create specific privacy and safety laws regarding drones.

“We see people like Richard Branson and Martha Stewart flying drones,” says Levie. “But these are the flashiest cases, and we’re only seeing the initial use. We’re still in the hobbyist drone phase."

Drones have the ability to collect massive amounts of geographical data, meaning that these robots can aid projects like oil spill cleanups and search and rescue missions. The future is "going to be less about Martha Stewart and more about these scenarios," Levie says. "If you’re an entrepreneur today, that’s where you should be putting your bets in this space.”

Levie also says this change is happening because the ecosystem and public understanding of drones is evolving as well.

Drones first had a military connotation, like the Air Force’s unmanned aerial vehicles Predator and Reaper. The highest end use cases then transformed into hobbyist use cases, which have gained traction in the past five years.

“It was in that time that cost curve dropped dramatically,” says Levie, “Now drone components make it efficient and cheap for enterprises to augment drones for their own uses and labor. We are now seeing drones in commerce use cases, in public safety, municipality. It is now the era where you will see drones in any types of business.”

When Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity landed on Mars with its twin Spirit, their mission was only supposed to last three months. Spirit worked for six years, and Opportunity is still active more than 10 years later.

Now, the Mars Opportunity rover needs a memory boost. Thanks to increasing frequency of computer resets, NASA is planning on reformatting the rover’s flash memory from 125 million miles away.

The flash memory on the rover is similar to the ones in our smartphones and digital cameras—though of course packing a lot more interesting data than music playlists. Using flash memory repeatedly to collect and store data can cause individual parts, or “cells,” to become damaged. NASA will clear the memory and pinpoint the bad cells to let the rover's software know those parts should be avoided.

"Worn-out cells in the flash memory are the leading suspect in causing these resets," John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and project manager for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project, said in a statement. "The flash reformatting is a low-risk process, as critical sequences and flight software are stored elsewhere in other non-volatile memory on the rover."

Before rebooting Opportunity, NASA will download all useful data and place the rover in an operating mode that doesn’t use flash memory. The scientists will reset the rover at least a dozen times, and the technical work will impede the rover’s planned schedule.

If you've ever dreamed of sending a satellite up into space to measure the Earth, an education-technology company is making it possible.

On Wednesday, Ardusat is publicly launching a program to offer "space kits" with programmable sensors that it will place in small satellites in partnership with commercial satellite company Spire.

The space kits cost $2,500, but the company has made the curriculum and online resources available for free. And through a partnership with the Association of Space Explorers, a global professional organization of cosmonauts and astronauts, along with a grant provided by Northrop Grumman, Ardusat is running a science competition beginning Sept. 2 to provide 15 high schools with a free space kit and the opportunity to work directly with an astronaut.

Already, more than two dozen schools are currently using Ardusat, and with its public launch, the kits are available to everyone.

Space Dreams

Ardusat's program struck a chord with me: When I was in second grade, I wanted to be an astronaut.

We’d just memorized the names of the nine planets—this was before Pluto had been struck from the list—and used glue and papier-mâché to build our own solar systems. That was about as hands-on as our learning ever got.

The next month, we learned about the ocean, and I wanted to be a marine biologist.

If I'd had the opportunity to send something up into space, perhaps my passion for discovering faraway stars and galaxies might have stuck around a little bit longer.

The students can program the sensors using Arduino to test scientific hypotheses based on data that can be measured from satellite orbit—for example, finding the relationship between El Niño weather conditions and the ocean temperature near their schools. (Ardusat is a portmanteau of the words "Arduino" and "satellite.")

Once students are finished, Ardusat tests their code for bugs and sends the project to a Spire satellite. Each of Spire’s satellites have something called an “education payload,” or a set of sensors used for educational purposes, where students’ projects will reside. Students can configure the projects in real time to collect different data.

The satellites, called "cubesats," are about the size of a softball. They are designed to orbit the Earth at 2,000 kilometers above the surface for nine months to two years, before reentering the atmosphere.

“There aren’t a lot of great STEM programs in education today, and it’s not because there’s a lack of materials—it’s just that it’s not engaging for students,” Sunny Washington, president of Ardusat, told me in an interview. “We’ll want to capture the interest of these students early on, and make space accessible to them, so hopefully they’ll be encouraged to pursue a STEM career.”

Satellite sensors will capture data and send it back to students in real-time, so classrooms can monitor how the experiment is performing each day. Ardusat offers pre-programmed sensors, so if students are unable to program Arduino, they still have the opportunity to send sensors up into space.

"We’re trying to encourage high school level people to take a look at science, technology, engineering and math, and see whether or not that’s something that excites them for their future," John-David Bartoe, a retired NASA astrophysicist and treasurer of the Association of Space Explorers, said in an interview. "It gives them the opportunity to get a taste of a very interesting field, and a very cool opportunity to operate a real satellite."

The group hopes to continue this competition annually, to provide low-income schools an opportunity to operate a satellite at no cost to them.

Ardusat In The Classroom

Rachelle Romanoff is a physics and chemistry teacher at Bakersfield Christian, a college preparatory school in the central Californian city. She was one of four contributors who helped create the Ardusat curriculum.

This year, Romanoff is bringing Ardusat to her 10th and 12th grade classrooms. Her AP Physics students are so excited to program sensors in space, some students enrolled in the class just for this particular project—she now has 23 students in the class, up from just 6 last year.

"I don’t know of any other way that they can get such a hands-on experience where they can be involved in all of STEM," Romanoff said in an interview. "The computer programming, the science—not only with physics, but with earth science too. And math. It’s all wrapped into one."

Because students can configure the sensors in real time, Romanoff says she'll be using Ardusat throughout the school year. Students will write code to then send to the satellites housing their particular project. It will be crucial in helping students understand concepts like electricity and magnetic fields.

The satellites will send the data back down to Earth, and students can collect and view the data on their iPads, and make graphs out of the information received from space to observe patterns or work out hypotheses.

Want A Job? Learn About Space

The future looks dark—that is, our perception of it is expanding into what seems like an abyss. As funding for NASA gets cut, other companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic are dedicated to pursuing the far-corners of our galaxy, unencumbered by funding, or lack there of, from the government.

Science and technology jobs will balloon in the future, as other corporations including Google and Facebook are investing in satellites, and private companies are promising commercial space flight. But due to lack of education and interest from students, those jobs might be hard to fill.

“The space industry—I’ve never seen anything like it,” Washington said. “When you talk to the people at NASA, when you talk to other commercial companies, they are so concerned that there aren’t enough scientists, and not enough students that are interested in space to replace these jobs.”

By providing students with the ability to travel to space, or at least program the sensors to, Ardusat makes the idea of space science a promising career field for students. Not just in the U.S., but around the world.

According to Washington, the company has talked with the Mexican Space Agency, and schools in Brazil, China, Guatemala, India, Indonesia and Israel.

As the Ardusat programming gets more advanced, and more satellites become available for students, Ardusat envisions more technical experiments like thunderstorm tracking. With the control of satellites at their fingertips, more students may find the endless possibilities of a job in space appealing.

"There is no question, we will be exploring space continuously in the future, and going farther and farther away from Earth." Bartoe said. "For us, it's critical that the United States be a leader.... We don't want to be left behind here on Earth."

Images courtesy of Ardusat

]]>http://readwrite.com/2014/08/27/ardusat-arduino-satellite-student-experimentshttp://readwrite.com/2014/08/27/ardusat-arduino-satellite-student-experimentsWed, 27 Aug 2014 12:00:00 GMTEditor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at PopSugar Tech.

In honor of Lauren's space-faring Hello Kitty, we found the most spectacular homemade stratosphere flights captured on film, featuring more toys that want to have high-altitude fun and stunning views of Earth from near space.

Want to send your own weather balloon into the atmosphere? See how these science-loving experimenters did it, put together your own high-altitude flight, and send us your videos.

A Space-Bound Hello Kitty Science Project

For her seventh-grade science project, 12-year-old Lauren Rojas of Antioch, CA, sent a Hello Kitty doll, which her father brought back from a business trip to Japan, in a silver rocket ship to the Earth's stratosphere.

The Little Tank Engine That Could

Wanting to give his son an unforgettable adventure, filmmaker Ron Fugelseth sent his favorite toy, the never-leaves-the-boy's-side Stanley train, to the edge of space and back. This sweet video has the best storytelling we've seen yet from a space video, capturing the spirit of a little silver tank engine that could.

An Upward-Bound Leg Lamp

The real star of A Christmas Story, despite its precarious and awkward size, reached 60,000 feet. We love the video's 30-second production time lapse before the flight begins.

Toy Robots Just Want to Have Fun

A toy robot took a two-and-a-half-hour trip to near space and captured some incredible video selfies along the way. The robot reached 95,000 feet and brought back smooth and stable footage from the flight.

A Spectacular Water Landing

As a part of the Geoforum GPS convention, the Brooklyn Space Program sent this device into the upper stratosphere, and it ascended for over 92 minutes before falling back to Earth. This is the first video we've seen with a successful splashdown (just like real space capsules!) and safe recovery.

Sunrise From the Stratosphere

Two cameras flew to 110,000 feet at the crack of dawn and caught a stunning sweeping sunrise as a full moon set on the horizon.

The California Coast From Up Above

Launched near Davenport, CA, this balloon took clear, beautiful footage of its ascent, offering spectacular views of the California coast. During its flight, the balloon also carried GPS, pressure, accelerometer, and temperature devices.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Homemade Spacecrafts

It took eight months of research and testing by a father-son team to successfully send this homemade spacecraft up into the atmosphere. The video details their journey, from building to testing to final execution, with text captions describing altitude and wind speeds along the way.

Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at PopSugar Tech.

It's been almost two years since the Curiosity rover landed on Mars in August 2012. But last week marked its first full Martian year (687 Earth days) roaming the planet. Lucky for us, NASA has been releasing photos of the Red Planet taken by the rover, which set out on its mission to discover if life ever existed on the stunning planet.

To commemorate its "birth," Curiosity took a selfie, but it turns out it's not its first. Ahead, check out all the truly stunning photos of the mysterious landscape that is out of this world.

Here's a picture taken at a location called "Sheepbed," which shows well-defined veins filled with whitish minerals that we think is calcium sulfate. The veins form when water circulates through fractures, depositing minerals along the sides of the fracture. [Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS]

Here's the landing site of the Curiosity rover with Mount Sharp in the background. [Source: NASA]

We've come to terms with the fact that astronauts do badass things that we'll never get to do. Like hang out in zero gravity, drink floating water blobs, and perform "Space Oddity" over 200 miles above our planet. Truth be told, astronauts have been and will forever be cooler than us Earth-bound humans, which is why they will always auto-win at social media. Don't believe us? Here's how and why these travelers of the cosmos are the Internet's finest communicators.

Exhibit A: Vine

I could watch this sun never set all. day. long.

Exhibit B: Twitter

Most first tweets are unfortunate, unless, of course, you're floating in space. Mission specialist Mike Massimino sent this note to the Johnson Space Center, which made it the first (sort of) tweet from space. SNL even spoofed it: "In 40 years we went from 'one giant leap for mankind' to 'Launch was awesome!,'" solidifying the tweet's place in history.

Exhibit C: Pinterest

NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg, who, you know, just has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and lived underwater for seven days, has the greatest Pinterest account in the galaxy. Science in Space shows off what scientists actually do up there, like harvesting plants and freezing their own saliva.

The Mars Rover. The discovery of inhabitable planets. Space experiments.

Amazing breakthroughs are happening at NASA all the time, but most of us on Earth are resigned to watching from the sidelines. After all, you need to already be an astronaut to understand the first thing about space, or so we thought.

DIY electronics company littleBits is bringing NASA-approved hardware hacking to the masses. The littleBits Space Kit, announced Thursday, is the result of a year-and-a-half long partnership between NASA and littleBits to make the complicated field of space exploration a little more accessible. The results are projects, lesson plans, and hardware modules designed and vetted by NASA engineers.

“NASA came to us,” said Ayah Bdeir, CEO and founder of littleBits. “They wanted to know, ‘How do we make space exploration something people can understand, see the importance of, and learn from?’ The result was a kit based on innovations that are scientifically accurate and real, but much more accessible to people.”

How To Simplify Space

littleBits has defined itself by unique prototyping modules that snap together—no soldering, wiring, or programming required for assembly. An artist who uses technology as her medium, Bdeir came up with the idea when she was trying to make an even more approachable DIY hardware option than what she was used to working with.

“People are passionate about space,” Bdeir said. “But they’re not sure how it works. We’ve been taking on one technological field at a time that people are very passionate about, breaking it down, and making it easy for people to understand and reinvent.”

With littleBits, now people can prototype space-themed projects. They can make their own satellite dishes, star charts, or even a robotic model of the Mars rover—just by snapping components together. This may sound simplistic, but littleBits is proving itself robust enough to be more than a toy for kids.

“We’ve been testing with people of all ages,” she said. “Including space enthusiasts, scientists, physicists, and astronomers. A fast-growing portion of our customers are entrepreneurs, prototypers, and engineers, and we never planned that.”

It’s this versatility that will end up being the Space Kit’s most redeeming value. Since the new Space Kit can be used with all other existing littleBits kits, it’ll be the community that develops some of the most interesting builds from these new components.

Even by NASA standards, the newest mission in search of life on other planets is really, really complicated. Loaded with literal moving parts, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope—“JWST” for short—is as ambitious as it is technically challenging. As anyone who watched the Mars Rover landing (or the movie Gravity) with bated breath can attest, a lot can go wrong in outer space.

That’s why virtual reality hardware—with the Oculus Rift VR headset leading the charge—provides a perfect testing ground for feats of engineering like the Webb spacecraft. And, believe it or not, the Webb team is already putting the Rift to the test.

Not Your Average Space Telescope

NASA’s new space observatory—scheduled for an October 2018 launch—will ably take the baton carried by the Kepler spacecraft, NASA's prolific planet finder launched in 2009, to seek worlds that resemble our own. About as tall as a four story building, Webb is shaped more like a pirate ship than a rocket. That’s because Webb cleverly folds down to catch a ride into space.

Once there, the space telescope blooms from its flower bud-like form, all while it moves to its programmed position. To collect deeper data than anything ever launched into space, the spacecraft has unique features, like an advanced honeycomb of 18 gold hexagonal mirrors to gather light (in the form of heat) and a specialized sunshield canopy to keep the instruments extremely cool.

Unlike the Hubble space telescope, which hangs out in Earth’s orbit like a satellite, Webb will travel one million miles away from our home planet, where it will soak up data in the form of photons. Currently, three-quarters of the hardware, a massive engineering undertaking, is complete.

Space Science Meets Game Science

The Oculus Rift has plenty of less astrophysical applications.

Here in Austin, NASA’s booth is stationed about 15 feet into SXSW 2014’s gaming expo—a cacophony of cosplay and virtual assault rifles—and that’s no coincidence. Given the increasing grandeur, intricacy and expense of the agency’s deep space missions, NASA's big dreams now intersect with the gaming industry’s expansive imagination at myriad points. (Beyond VR, NASA has partnered with the makers of the Kerbal Space Program, a space simulation game, to fire up interest in its [real] Asteroid Redirect Mission.)

Here at SXSW 2014, I spoke to Dr. Alberto Conti, Innovation Manager and astrophysicist at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems—NASA’s main contractor for designing and building the JWST—about how virtual reality and the Oculus Rift are changing the game.

“There’s a lot—a lot—of modeling that’s been done in astronomy in general for many, many years,” Conti said. But physical test chambers and non-immersive virtual modeling (think a PC screen) are giving way to hardware pioneered by the gaming world.

“One of the things that we’re very interested in doing is to try to use the Oculus. To try to use immersive realities to [create] scenarios for particular simulations: say you can simulate an instrument for example, or you can simulate our systems and how they behave,” Conti said. "We’re moving that direction."

Be The Simulation

Webb's hexagonal mirror segments

Conti waxed downright enthusiastic about what engineers can accomplish with immersive virtual reality:

We have both this immersive 360 degree [simulator]—our 'holodeck'—but we also have the ability to hook up an Oculus. [Oculus] has the hardware right. It’s a very interesting piece of hardware because it changes the paradigm.... [Conti gestures at a massive touchscreen at the NASA booth showcasing the Kepler and Hubble missions.] This is immersive, it’s touch, it’s great—but you’re not in it.

You can imagine actually using [the Oculus Rift] for serious work. What if I have an engineer look at the schematics of how a particular instrument works? What if you could actually simulate how the light goes through an instrument inside the James Webb space telescope? That’s pretty powerful, right?

Particularly for things that are as complex as Webb. The more complex they are, the more the role of simulation is going to grow.

Conti also thinks the Oculus Rift could help scientists browse massive data sets with only gestures and engineers test virtual instruments in two hours rather than waiting six months.

“I think we are starting to see all of this stuff become commercial and very, very cheap,” he said. "There’s going to be an explosion of these kinds of tools. Your minority report kind of thing is not that far fetched—people do it now. Oculus is getting very close to that."

Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at PopSugar Tech.

Mars is just as magnificent as it is mysterious — that's no secret. But how often do you get an up-close-and-personal look at the planet in all its beauty? Thanks to the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, we now have an unrivaled view of the planet, from its dunes all the way to its clouds. Ahead, check out some of the most stunning images along with descriptions from the HiRISE team at the University of Arizona. The best part is you can make these incredible pictures your desktop wallpaper. Just download away!

"The linearity of the volcanic vent shown in this HiRISE image, in conjunction with evidence of lava flow from the vent, suggests control by combined volcano-tectonic processes."

"Sand dunes like these seen in this image have been observed to creep slowly across the surface of Mars through the action of the wind. These are a particular type of dune called a 'barchan,' which forms when the wind blows in one direction (here, east to west) for long periods of time. Barchan dunes are common on Mars and in the desert regions of the Earth."

"This image covers part of the floor of a large ancient impact crater, near the western rim. The subimage shows layered deposits, many with distinct colors (the colors are enhanced or exaggerated). These layers have a morphology similar to that seen elsewhere on Mars in obvious alluvial fans where channels emerge into craters."

"What we see are thin condensate clouds moving relative to surface features. They appear to move 200 meters distance over the 0.1855 second between the infrared and blue-green imaging, or 1.08 kilometers per second!"

"This site along a Coprates Chasma ridge shows what are called recurring slope lineae (or RSL) on generally north-facing slopes in northern Summer/southern Winter."

"Oxus Patera is an ancient, eroded depression in northern Arabia Terra. It is not known how Oxus Patera formed, though it has been suggested that the feature represents an ancient caldera formed through collapse and explosive volcanism."

"This image shows numerous dark shapes and bright spots on a sand dune in the Northern polar regions of Mars. The bright spots are carbon dioxide frost. On Mars, the main atmospheric component is carbon dioxide, which circulates seasonally between the atmosphere and the polar regions. One of the reasons that permit this process is the fact that temperatures on Mars are much colder than on Earth, which allows carbon dioxide frost to condense on the surface in winter."

The bright spots are carbon dioxide frost. On Mars, the main atmospheric component is carbon dioxide, which circulates seasonally between the atmosphere and the polar regions. One of the reasons that permit this process is the fact that temperatures on Mars are much colder than on Earth, which allows carbon dioxide frost to condense on the surface in winter."

ReadWriteReflect offers a look back at major technology trends, products and companies of the past year.

Astronaut selfies, national tragedies, invasions of privacy and heartwarming events all made our list for the most notable social media moments this year.

Social media is more prevalent now than ever before. Pew Internet reports that 73 percent of all U.S. adult Internet users have at least one social media account and while Facebook still remains the ubiquitous platform, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Instagram play a large part in launching viral content and communicating and documenting stories around world.

Vine And The Rise Of Short Video

In January, Twitter launched Vine, the six-second video application that became one of the most popular social apps of 2013. Vine was so successful, in fact, that Instagram followed suit—the video service on Instagram allows up to 15 seconds of footage.

Creative tweeters became enamored with the ability to have fun in six seconds and Vine became host to video selfies, comedy sketches and even a Presidential message.

The Boston Marathon Bombing

On April 15, Boston was wracked with tragedy. A bomb detonated at the Boston Marathon, killing four people and injuring over 260. On the day of the event, and those that followed, the terrorist attack was discussed on the Internet non-stop, as people tweeted, posted and talked about the events that occurred.

The crisis was an unfortunate lesson for both the media and citizen journalists. In the rush to release real-time updates, misinformation was abundant. At one point, alleged suspects identified by Reddit and Twitter users were broadcast on multiple media outlets, but had absolutely nothing to do with the bombing. Our own mobile editor Dan Rowinski lives in the Boston area a couple blocks from the alleged bomber's house in Cambridge. During the Friday manhunt he used Twitter and Google+ to share his observations on the ground.

Astronauts Tweet Home

This year our timelines were filled with pictures and video from outer space. Chris Hadfield, a multi-talented Canadian astronaut, became a popular Twitter celebrity for tweeting and blogging about his experiences aboard the International Space Station. Perhaps his most well-known feat was his rendition of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”. He sang the 1970s rock ballad accompanied by his acoustic guitar.

Government Data Requests

To help push for transparency, multiple technology companies including Facebook and Google published global government data request information for the first six months of 2013, detailing the number and type of government requests the companies have fielded. Unsurprisingly, the U.S. government led the way, dwarfing the number of requests from other countries.

Twitter Goes Public

The social media platform built on 140 characters or less went public in November. The company priced its initial stock at $26 a share, but Twitter erupted on the market, fetching as much as $74 a share.

In the year leading up to its public entrance, Twitter supercharged its efforts to make money. From overhauling its messaging platform to putting images front and center, Twitter started to copy features from Facebook and Pinterest in an attempt to become more mainstream.

Typhoon Haiyan Hits The Philippines

People suffering as a result of the massive natural disaster that ravaged the Philippines in November drew support from millions of Facebook and Twitter users. More than 6,000 people died as a result of Tyhpoon Haiyan, and some survivors turned to social media for help.

#BatKid Takes Over San Francisco—And Twitter

You probably saw the small but mighty caped crusader save the streets of San Francisco. But you probably saw it on Facebook or Twitter. (Even the ReadWrite staff couldn’t get a first-hand look at BatKid, the streets were flooded with his supporters.)

In November, the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted five-year-old Miles his greatest wish: becoming a superhero. A boy’s wish turned out to become a national phenomenon; the small boy who had been battling Leukemia since he was a toddler became a hero to us all. Over 11,000 Bay Area volunteers turned up to help make his dream come true, and millions of supporters around the world voiced their support on social media.

Selfie Became The Word Of The Year

Thanks to front-facing cameras and the rise of Instagram, the word “selfie”, describing the headshot one takes of herself, was added to the Oxford English Dictionary and named the Word of the Year. In 2013, the frequency of the word “selfie” increased 17,000% since last year, an Oxford Dictionary report noted.

Beyoncé’s Visual Album Launched Exclusively On iTunes

The pop megastar released her album on the evening of December 13, surprising fans everywhere. What’s more—she released the visual album exclusively on iTunes for $15.99 without the option to download individual songs.

With music streaming services killing the need to purchase albums at record stores or through digital downloads, it can be tough for artists to release music and get fans to pay for it. Beyoncé bucked this trend, and provided all her songs and music videos complete with one download, for one price.

Unfortunately, Doge became so famous that even politicians began creating their own Doge memes, effectively killing the cool-factor of the Shiba pup. Of course, just because Doge went mainstream doesn’t mean he still can’t provide insightful commentary in the form of images and GIFs.

Did we miss your favorite social media moment of the year? Let us know in the comments!

NASA turns 55 today, and to celebrate, the government is shutting it down. Because the United States Congress has failed to authorize continued spending, the federal government stops providing all but "essential" services. Unfortunately, unlike the postal service, air traffic management and armed forces, NASA and a number of other government science endeavors aren't considered essential.

But a growing number of people who follow NASA on social media, read science blogs, and share scientific articles with friends might disagree.

5 Million Space Fans

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration—NASA to most of us—took to Twitter to announce its closure, and apologized to its nearly five million followers.

NASA is one of the most popular science accounts on Twitter—and it's now becoming recognized as one of the largest targets of the shutdown. According to the Washington Post, only 549 of NASA's 18,250 employees will be expected to report to work.

But this might be a great time for NASA's huge social media following to turn their tweets into action and let Washington know: science is essential to them.

The ease of passing around links and articles on social networks is driving a wave of renewed attention around science, technology, engineering, and math—or STEM, as it's known in the education business. The dramatic NASA shutdown could be a test: Does interaction about these subjects on social media really translate into action offline?

The answer is far from clear, but practitioners are hopeful.

NASA’s Social Community

Some of us probably remember sitting in awe as NASA scientists or astronauts came to our classrooms and wowed us with stories of space exploration. Now that wonder is making an impact on an even larger audience through social media.

NASA's long been known for planting flags on unexplored turf. It's been quick to colonize social networks, including the launch of an Instagram account two weeks ago, where it quickly amassed almost 200,000 followers. The space agency’s long-established Twitter account has a following of almost five million. NASA also uses video platforms like Google+ Hangouts and YouTube to bring scientists and astronauts into classrooms and living rooms around the world.

“We’ve never had this citizen science experience prior to social media,” said Jason Townsend, NASA’s deputy social media manager. “This is going to change how we perceive science and discovery and research in ways we just don’t know yet.”

One big push for NASA is to find ways to reach more young people to encourage an interest in science and technology. Twitter has been a successful platform for engaging a younger audience, including megastar Justin Bieber and his almost 45 million followers. After tweeting an invitation to help the young musician take his act into space, NASA saw a huge uptick in its follower count, including many female fans whom it might have struggled to reach through traditional means.

"If we can reach just one or two girls and get them interested because of him, then we’ve been successful," said John Yembrick, a NASA social media manager.

Turning Followers Into Funding

Following NASA on Twitter is not an end in itself. The space agency hosts NASA Social meetups, events that allow followers to take part in behind-the-scenes events surrounding NASA’s milestones or important historical moments.

NASA Social allows online followers to become more active members of the NASA community. In fact, these events are compelling attendees to become more involved in the community by organizing campaigns and lobbying the U.S. Congress for more funding—or, in the wake of the shutdown, any funding at all.

One campaign, Penny 4 NASA, is a push to increase federal funding to one percent of the U.S. annual budget. As it stands, the space agency receives less than half a penny of every federal dollar spent—about 0.48 percent.

And yesterday, Penny 4 NASA called for action on Twitter:

Participants in the NASA Social events created the campaign on their own. But the people who run the agency are savvy enough to know that popular support for space programs is the only way to preserve their funding.

No Really, It’s Okay To Be Smart

Joe Hanson, host of PBS Digital Studio's "It's Okay To Be Smart," makes it fun to learn about science, technology, history and art.

At a time when scientific research seems most threatened, science is becoming trendy. And social media seems to be driving it.

For example, why is Bill Nye, The Science Guy, winning votes on "Dancing with the Stars"? It's not his sweet moves—it's the organized campaigns by fans who love the awkward science educator. Likewise, "Cosmos" is coming to Fox TV, helmed by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist who made his name on Reddit.

You see it everywhere online: Blogs use animated GIFs and humor to communicate groundbreaking advances in technology—and garner thousands of shares on social networks. The march of knowledge has become part of the pop-culture vernacular in a way we haven't seen since the days of Sputnik or Schoolhouse Rock.

Science and technology blogs that make science easily understood are likewise finding ways to generate excitement about discovery using social media. It’s Okay To Be Smart, a blog started by biologist Joe Hanson that turned into a PBS Digital Studios video series, has amassed a large following of users, many of whom are casual readers simply curious about the world.

Hanson hosts his blog on Tumblr, a platform he found more effective than other platforms like WordPress, specifically because Tumblr—a blogging platform Yahoo recently acquired for $1.1 billion—has a more social aspect to it and is geared toward a younger, more social-savvy audience.

“I felt there was a big audience that wasn’t being reached out to, mainly young people and laypeople that spend most of their time online on their social websites,” he said.

His blog, along with others like I F***ing Love Science (IFLS), explore discoveries in science and technology, but break them down in a way users can understand with a cursory glance at their news feeds. The increasing popularity of these blogs demonstrates a voracious curiosity among citizens who want to know more about how our world works. They just haven't had science-related topics presented to them in a digestible, accessible manner before.

Even the Discovery Channel is recognizing that large audiences following blogs like IFLS could translate into an attentive audience offline. The media company enlisted IFLS's creator Elise Andrew to host regular video segments on the Science Channel and the Test Tube online network.

“It’s easy for people to be cynical about science and how it’s accepted in the world today and how we’re on some great downward trend in society,” Hanson said. “It’s Okay To Be Smart is showing me that the interest is still there. There is a huge hunger for knowledge, but what’s been missing is an effective way to communicate it to people.”

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube are the solution, writers like Hanson believe. While Hanson doesn’t have any hard numbers on the impact his blog has had, he has plenty of personal anecdotes that reflect his followers’ excitement about science.

"I get messages regularly that say, 'I don’t have good science teachers, but because I can go online, I can fully embrace science,'" Hanson said.

But Hanson doesn't define success just by inspiring kids to become scientists. Hanson argues that it's just as important that ordinary people value science, even if they don't make a living out of it.

People are fighting for Ph.D jobs, he observed, so on that level he believes we are doing well as a country.

“There’s maybe a greater success in creating STEM citizens,” Hanson said, citing the example of actress Jenny McCarthy, who has advocated against vaccinating children, a stance that the scientific community largely views as ignorant of the science behind vaccines. “Having a nation that is science-literate and can weigh meaningful information from bad information, that can look for themselves at Jenny McCarthy and understand her anti-vaccine stances are dangerous for people."

Developing Social Structure

YouTube is one social platform that recognizes the benefit of viral educational content. At this year’s VidCon, representatives from the Google-owned video network met with educational video creators and asked what features they could add to the platform that would benefit instructors.

“YouTube continues to grow … educational content, and be supportive of educational creators,” Hanson said. “On YouTube, you can go online and spend hours digging through geology and particle physics.”

Educational content gets a showcase on the YouTube EDU site. Users can find videos ranging from academic lectures to inspirational speeches. Many YouTube EDU hosts are creating programming that can be shown in classes and can supplement traditional classroom materials.

From Retweeting To Restoring Funding

It will take years to see if the Beliebers of today become the astronauts of tomorrow—or the science teachers, or citizens informed enough about science to weigh in on public debates. However, if the anecdotal evidence generated by NASA, YouTube, and science bloggers counts for anything, it's clear there's a shift afoot.

"I want to inspire the next generation of scientists, but also the next generation of science citizens," Hanson said. "And in that I would say we are making a difference."

Meanwhile, NASA remains shut. And while its shutdown message has been retweeted nearly 3,000 times, it's far from clear how that will stop the partisan gridlock in Washington.

Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at PopSugar Tech.

Over a year after posting a call for astronaut applications, NASA introduced the 2013 astronaut candidate class on Monday, half of which are female, the highest percentage ever selected in one group by NASA. Over 6,300 people applied for the eight available positions, which begin training Aug.1 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, home of the astronaut corps and Mission Control.

This marks the 21st class of NASA astronaut candidates, all of whom had to undergo a rigorous interview process that included medical, language aptitude, and mobility tests. The eight individuals will join the current 49 active NASA astronauts in the organization's future pursuit of the first manned mission to an asteroid in the 2020 decade, with the goal of one day putting humans on Mars.

Currently, the US astronauts' main mission is supporting the global efforts of the International Space Station.

As a NASA representative said during a Google+ Hangout to introduce the eight candidates, the four women chosen were not deliberately selected to represent an equal gender pool, rather they were the most qualified group of people, and a "tribute to women today." Here, an introduction to the impressive women of the 2013 astronaut class.

Christina M. Hammock

After spending winters doing research in Antarctica and Greenland, Christina currently serves as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration station chief in American Samoa. The 34-year-old holds undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering and physics from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, as well as a master's in electrical engineering. She's a NASA alum, having worked as an electrical engineer for the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

Nicole Aunapu Mann

The US Marine Corps major graduated from the US Naval Academy, as well as the US Naval Test Pilot school, and earned her mechanical engineering masters at Stanford University. Nicole is currently the product team lead at the US Naval Air Station in Patuxent River. In addition to her military accomplishments, the 35-year-old was one of the most decorated players in the Navy female soccer league's history.

Nicole was also the 1999 NCAA Woman of the Year in Maryland. She enjoys back country camping, scuba diving, and has over 1400 hours of flight time to her name. "I'm looking forward to working for NASA and join everybody working for the common mission of science exploration," she said.

Major Anne C. McClain

The 34-year-old West Point graduate from Spokane, WA, studied in the United Kingdom and earned masters degrees in public health and international studies. Anne served as a rotary wing pilot and command intelligence officer. She's participated in over 200 combat missions, including Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In addition to graduating US Naval Test Pilot school, Anne is a part of the national women's rugby team, a certified commercial scuba diver, and has more than 1600 hours of flight time under her belt. She was "as excited to tell my mother as I was excited to be selected," and "doesn't remember when I wanted to be something else [other than an astronaut]."

Jessica U. Meir, Ph.D.

"I'm excited about aspects of the training itself, particularly training in the jets and the international components. I love studying different languages and cultures," Jessica said. The 35-year-old from Caribou, ME, has already performed field work at Penguin Ranch in Antarctica and in Mongolia.

Jessica earned a bachelor's in biology, a master's in space studies, and a Ph.D. in marine biology. She's currently an assistant professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School. In addition to her academic merits, Jessica is a private pilot, scuba diver, and experienced ice diver.

We at ReadWrite would like to congratulate the world for surviving its rumored apocalypse and offer a reminder that, really, the world was never going to end on December 21, 2012.

NASA, which has been a reasonable, stabilizing voice through all of the hysteria around the so-called End, has posted a video explaining why we are all still here.

It is a good thing we survived the apocalypse, because, as one commenter said, “I'm pretty stoked its not happening because that would've ruined my week.”

Indeed.

As is the nature of calendars, the Mayan cycle starts anew today. As the video above notes, the Mayans had an extraordinary concept of time, with calendars and cycles that dwarf the scales that modern folks usually think about.

As we in the media well know, it is never too early to start hyping the next big thing. So, if we think of the Long Count Mayan cycle measured in what is known as a baktun (20 katuns, or 144,000 days) and apply the same cycle of 13 baktuns, then the next Mayan-calendar-induced end of the world hysteria will peak sometime in the year 7,137 A.D. (taking three years worth of leap years into account). If our math is correct.

Back in January, NASA told us that the world was not going to end in 2012. The space administration was not really concerned with prophecies to the contrary. To NASA, this is about science and the science says that Armageddon is not likely to happen on December 21, 2012.

This Friday = Doomsday?

But you no doubt hear people say, the Mayans predicted that the world would end on Dec. 21, 2012. The galaxy is going to align and our planet is going to be torn apart by massive gravity swells. The sun is going to melt our core. Some mysterious planet named Nibiru is going to crash into us. A solar storm is going to blow away our atmosphere. The Yellowstone Caldera, a super volcano in Wyoming, is going to erupt.

Hogwash. All of it.

The Mayans Did NOT Predict The End Of The World

First off, the Mayan calendar does not call for the end of the world this week - and it never did. The Mayan calendar runs in a series of cycles. We are reaching the end of a very long cycle. Just like the calendar on your smartphone, once the calendar for a year ends on December 31, a new calendar starts. The Mayans never predicted an apocalypse.

In fact, the Mayans are pissed.

"We are speaking out against deceit, lies and twisting of the truth, and turning us into folklore-for-profit. They are not telling the truth about time cycles," said Felipe Gomez, leader of a Mayan group called Oxlaljuj Apop as reported by Phys.org.

Debunking The Myths

NASA takes the pragmatic approach. It lists the variety of ways that the world is supposedly going to end in debunks them. With science.

For instance, Nibiru, or “Planet X,” a planet allegedly discovered by the ancient Sumerians, does not exist. As it does not exist, it is not likely to crash into the Earth and kill all of us. This particular rumor started with a woman named Nancy Lieder on a website called ZetaTalk in 1995. Nibiru was supposed to pass close to Earth and its inhabitants come to rule over us lowly humans as gods.

NASA did a Google+ Hangout in the middle of November where its scientists spoke about the end of the world.

The rest of the conspiracy theories concerning the death of our planet? Solar storms? A giant black out? Polar shift? None of those are going to be ending the world on Friday. Attributable science has proved it. Really, trust NASA. These folks know what they are talking about.

“The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” NASA says on its website.

It's OK To Party, Though

The fact of the matter is that people have been hearing about this date, Dec. 21, 2012, for most of their lives. Natural curiosity has built up concerning this so-called doomsday. Chances are, you have been invited by one of your friends to some type of end of the world happy hour on Friday. By all means, go. Drink and be merry. It is the holiday season, after all.

Your biggest worry on Friday will likely be drunk drivers who have had a little too much pre-apocalyptic revelry. Maybe a group of people somewhere in the world will go nuts and riot, burn and loot. As we have seen, especially in this past week, bad people can do evil things. Perhaps December 21, 2012 will be a magnet for those types of people.

Hopefully not.

But fire and brimstone from the skies? The world opening up under your feet, swallowing cities whole? NASA sees no scientific reason for any of that to happen.